March Weekend - Aimless Walking and Photography

Saturday

After Leena and I got off the phone I had a tough time getting started on my way out... Trying to decide to carry a backpack, not carry one, etc...

It was later than usual by the time I got dressed and out the door...  In the subway station near the apartment I missed a photo op, when I was heading down to the platform on one set of steps were a huge crew of subway construction workers in their orange safety vests and hard hats standing watching a supervisor give them a speech about their workday.  I caught something about "and remember there will be trains passing..."

I walked to the far end of the platform where there was only one other person.  After she noticed the construction workers' lamps going down onto the tracks she asked me if there were trains today and I told her there were, they were probably working on the express track in the middle, where there are no trains this weekend.  But I told her the trains would probably be going slower near this station to reduce the risk of hitting any workers...

In Manhattan I got off the train at 8th Street - NYU, which has some nice tile mosaics in the walls that my father asked me to photograph.  I took a bunch of photos, trying to avoid getting hit by people walking around the platform and being sure to keep an eye on how far back I was from the wall so I wouldn't step off the edge of the platform.  Actually, I planned for that and carried my widest lens, the 11-16mm, that would get whole mosaics without having to step back too far from them.

I couldn't photograph the mosaics on the opposite platform without going up and out of the station, then running my card through on the other side as that station doesn't have a connection between the two directions, or at least, not one I know of.

Up on the street, I got turned around, never having used that station before, I didn't know exactly where I'd exited it.  I walked a little in the wrong direction before I recognized some stores and realized I was on Broadway, not 8th Street like I thought.  So, I turned and went over the direction I wanted, to work my way to the corner of 2nd Avenue and 12th Street...

That's where Shima Japanese Restaurant is, and I was in the mood for sushi for lunch, if you can imagine that...  Lunch was good, sushi...  This time I got the regular salmon roll instead of the spicy salmon roll and it was a lot better.  I think the spicy one they use a specially spiced mayonnaise, which adds a texture I don't like

As I was finishing and paying the bill a couple of slightly older women came in and couldn't decide where to sit.  As soon as I put on my jacket and hadn't even grabbed my backpack from the chair by the window (I'd sat at the one facing the window) and before the busser cleared the table they sat down at it, saying "ah, this one has nice sunshine."

Out on the street I walked up towards Union Square, intending to catch the subway up to Times Square. There was a fancy looking Food Emporium next to it and I stopped in, planning to see what sort of chocolate bars they had.  I wandered around but couldn't find the chocolate section, though I did wander into the tea aisle, where I picked up a few packs of various green teas I hadn't tried before.  It was the first time I've ever used a self checkout at a store, too...  You put all your things on a scale on one side of the scanner, then as you scan each item you put them on a scale on the other side and it tracks the weight to make sure you ring everything up...  Interesting, and convenient for not having a whole lot of items...

I took ended up taking a different train than usual, a 5, from Union Square, up to Grand Central Terminal, which was good for a bathroom break.  From there I walked over to Times Square, stopping in Bryant Park to look at the empty, sand covered space where the wintertime ice skating rink was until a couple of weeks ago...

At Times Square I wandered around a little.  The red stairs where I like to go at the north end were blocked off for some kind of maintenance or something.  I tinkered with the IncrediBooth app on the iPhone 4, which simulates an old style photo booth...

Then I went down into the subway.  The Times Square station has some interesting artwork in the walls in the tunnel connecting it under the street to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, so I wanted to photograph some of that.  Closer to Times Square are big, chunky glass cubes with lots of cermaic stuff inside them and some are interesting.  Under the bus terminal are mosaics with themes related to marbles, the little glass balls for playing games with.  In between are mosaics of people who appear to be celebrating...

Finished up some photography there I used the bathroom in the bus terminal, then went back out to the street.  I walked towards Times Square and checked out a few souvenir shops for fridge magnets.  I got a few, but didn't really like most of the selections.  There were lots of them, but mostly they looked very cheaply made.

Doing that I worked my way down Broadway to Herald Square, by the big Macy's.  Then I noticed the Empire State Building in the sunlight and wandered around it, taking photos with my wide angle lens, until I'd circled back to Broadway.  I followed that down to Madison Square Park, and then walked up 5th Avenue a few blocks until I was getting too close to the Empire State Building for new photos.

I cut across 28th Street, intending to take the subway up to Central Park, but passed a shop selling cheap miscellaneous stuff, that had a sign about watch batteries in the window.  I stopped in there to see about getting the battery replaced in my Seiko, since it's getting warmer and I don't want to wear my Rolex around much of New York City with short sleeves (no need to make myself a conspicuous target...)

An older, Indian fellow in the store said he'd replace my watch battery.  I almost walked out because after I handed it to him, he set it on the counter and then got distracted by another customer coming in and saying "I'll take one of the fake G-Shock watches" and the Indian guy said "no, no, is real" but took one out of a cheap looking cardboard box with a bunch of them in it, and only charged the customer $10 and no sales tax (looking online, Macy's has the same one for $99).

Then he got to my watch...  He popped it open and immediately asked me if anyone else had ever replaced the battery in it, because it looked like someone had done it wrong before.  I told him lots of times, I've had the watch since the mid-1980's.  I mentioned the last time it was replaced was in India and he asked me where, so I told him Pune.  He asked if I was there for a business trip, and I said I lived there for about ten years, got married there and all.  He said "ah, you must speak our language very well?" and I disappointed him by saying "thora, thora..."

I noticed that whoever replaced the batter in India scratched the date and what may be initials or a name I can't read clearly into the inside of the cover.  I know it was from someone in India because the date was 18-6-2009.

While he was working on it another Indian customer came in to pick up a watch that must've been repaired or something and had a conversation in Hindi with him.  I understood a bit of it, and when the other customer left, the guy asked me if I knew what they talked about.

Getting the battery replaced was just $8, and he gave me his card for any other watch repairs I ever need.

Then I took the N train from 28th Street up Broadway to 57th Street and 7th Avenue.  I got off there as there was a building nearby, on 58th Street, I wanted to photograph.  It was a couple of blocks from the station, but I think I got a couple of interesting ones of it.  I don't even know what kind of building it is, except it's 70's sort of modern or something and looking up at it it just looks interesting...

I took some photos from Pulitzer Fountain, a park across from Central Park, in front of The Plaza Hotel, facing the 5th Avenue Apple Store.  At one point while I was there some guy had the nerve to stop right there, on the sidewalk, and take photos...

Then walking up 59th Street I saw a big commercial building with dark, purple glass that was reflecting nearby buildings in an interesting way, but couldn't get a picture of it I was happy with.

A few blocks further on and I caught the subway again, thinking of a hamburger down on 23rd Street at the New York Burger Co.  This time I took a 6 train downtown.  Me and everyone else standing got a surprise when it made a curve on the tracks.  It was on the map, but maybe the driver took it faster than normal or something, as all of us got thrown around a little.  I was ready for the second one, though, since I was standing near the map and looked at the route after the first one...

I got off at 23rd Street, at Madison Square Park and walked west along the bottom of the park, until I got to 6th Avenue and didn't see the restaurant.  Then I remembered it was two blocks down, on 21st Street and went there.  I got a regular New York Burger, which is just a beef patty, lettuce and tomato on a toasted bun, sweet potato fries and a blueberry milkshake.  It was good, just what I expected.

After dinner the sun went down and I walked a few blocks over to the High Line to use the bathroom and enjoy it for a little while before walking up 14th Street to Union Square to get the subway home.

So, all in all, a good day.  I suppose if anyone tracked my movements on a map they'd be confused because I was all over the place, and going back and forth a few times to places, with no obvious pattern except my whims...


Sunday

I was really confused in the morning with the time change, which after ten years in India I'd gotten used to not doing at all.  I had a slight headache, too, but not a terrible one, with my stomach a little but not awfully upset (which usually goes with a migraine).

It was around 12 noon, I think, that I got out of the apartment because I missed an hour there somewhere.  I don't know where the hour went, it seemed like I got up at a reasonable hour, but then it got late fast.

I decided to take my longest lens, the 100-300mm zoom lens.  It's not the most useful for city photography because to get interesting shots of architecture I have to be a long, long way away, which is hard, since there's then buildings in the way.  But there's been a few things I wanted to try it with.

I got off the subway at 14th Street - Union Square and walked up to the High Line where I took the camera out and started taking some photos.

There's one part of the High Line where there's a view of the Statue of Liberty a long, long, long way away.  But I'd never taken the right lens for a decent photo there before.  By coincidence, a block or two from the High Line was a digital traffic sign, and lined up almost directly under the Statue of Liberty it said "expect delays - use alternate route."

With the weather warming up again there were lots and lots and lots of people on the High Line taking photos.  There was hardly any place to move without getting in the way of someone taking a photo.  The wooden lounge benches were full of people once again, and there was a long line of people waiting to look through the viewing box at some modern artwork...  Spring is here!

After using the bathroom on the High Line I made my way back down to the street and zig zagged a bit on the streets, intending to head to Madison Square Park.  When the traffic lights were right I tried taking some photos looking up the avenues while crossing the street, but at my height, it's hard to get good ones over the nearby stopped cars, and having been hit twice before in my life, I'm probably a little overcautious about taking the photo and getting out of the street quickly.

At Madison Square Park I put my camera away and bought a pretzel and bottle of water from a street vendor, then sat down on a bench to eat that while watching the squirrels and birds wandering around looking for food.  That was entertaining for a little bit...

After finishing the pretzel and putting the 2/3 full water bottle in my backpack I hit 5th Avenue...  I worked my way up about 15 blocks to 42nd Street, where I headed off to the right to use the bathroom in Grand Central Terminal.  While I was there I picked up a take-out package of sushi from a counter in the food court.

I took the sushi over to Bryant Park where I grabbed a small, green table and sat down to eat it outside.  It was pleasant there, sort of away from many things, in the middle of the city.  Unfortunately, it was about the worst sushi I've had...  Oh well...

Once I finished eating, I threw away the trash and headed to Times Square.  It wasn't as crowded as the most I've seen it, but still pretty crowded.  It turns out the red steps actually are open and yesterday I was mistaken.  It's not maintenance or construction scaffolding blocking it, it's a stage for some kind of performances.  Nothing was going on in it, but it did obscure the view from the steps.  I hope it won't be there all spring and summer...

By then it felt like it was getting late, since Monday was a workday, so I headed down from 47th Street, where the red steps are, to 42nd Street to get onto the subway and head home to Brooklyn.  The first train that came was an R, which goes right to my apartment.  I sort of dozed off a bit, but got woken up in Brooklyn when a family got on with a screaming kid, who didn't want to get on that train...  Ug...  Fortunately the kid fell asleep within two stops and shut up.